1. Origin of the caste.
Dahāit, Dahāyat.—A mixed caste of village watchmen of the Jubbulpore and Mandla Districts, who are derived from the cognate caste of Khangārs and from several of the forest tribes. In 1911 the Dahāits numbered about 15,000 persons in the Central Provinces, of whom the large majority were found in the Jubbulpore District and the remainder in Bilāspur, Damoh and Seoni. Outside the Province they reside only in Bundelkhand. According to one story the Dahāits and Khangārs had a common ancestor, and in Mandla again they say that their ancestors were the door-keepers of the Rājas of Mahoba, and were known as Chhadīdar or Darwān; and they came to Mandla about 200 years ago, during the time of Rāja Nizām Shāh of the Rāj-Gond dynasty of that place. In Mandla the names of their subdivisions are given as Rawatia or Rautia, Kol, Mawāsi, Sonwāni and Rajwāria. Of these Kol and Rajwār are the names of separate tribes; Mawāsi is commonly used as a synonym for Korku, another tribe; Sonwāni is the name of a sept found among several of the primitive tribes; while Rāwat is a title borne by the Saonrs and Gonds. The names Rautia and Rajwāria are found as subdivisions of the Kol tribe in Mīrzāpur,[2] and it is not improbable that the Dahāits are principally derived from this tribe. The actual name Dahāit is also given by Mr. Crooke as a subdivision of the Kols, and he states it to have the meaning of ‘villager,’ from dehāt, a village. The Dahāits were a class of personal attendants on the chief or Rāja, as will be seen subsequently. They stood behind the royal cushion and fanned him, ran in front of his chariot or litter to clear the way, and acted as door-keepers and ushers. Service of this kind is of a menial nature and, further, demands a considerable degree of physical robustness; and hence members of the non-Aryan forest tribes would naturally be selected for it. And it would appear that these menial servants gradually formed themselves into a caste in Bundelkhand and became the Dahāits. They obtained a certain rise in status, and now rank in the position of village menials above their parent tribes. In the Central Provinces the Dahāits have commonly been employed as village watchmen, a post analogous to that of door-keeper or porter. The caste are also known as Bhāldār or spearmen, and Kotwār or village watchmen.